PDA

View Full Version : Savage 340



barrrel
12-17-2005, 05:00 PM
Igot a savage 340 today pretty tight gun,in 3030 cal., any one ever shoot cast in one?TIA

felix
12-17-2005, 05:09 PM
Yep, an accurate gun with 12 twist. ... felix

Char-Gar
12-17-2005, 07:01 PM
I have one of the economy (Springfield) versions of that rifle. I bought a Lyman peep sight on Ebay and drilled and tapped the receiver. It shoots very well with cast bullets. The chamber is a little on the large size, so cases fired in that rifle won't work in another unless Fl resized. So just keep a couple of boxes of cases dedicated to that rifle and neck size only.

Buckshot
12-18-2005, 06:52 AM
..............I borrowed one of those from a buddy for my daughter to use on her first deer hunt. Bought a box of factory 150's just to establish a baseline, and I swear it would shoot around corners. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it and I removed it from the stock to see if anything was bound up. During this I noticed the crown. Looks like it had been crowned twice, and one of those times without a guide.

Called my friend to get his okay and cut a new crown. Turned into a real fine shooter after that. I'm thinking this thing was a .302x.310 barrel. I know there was some issue there but whatever, it ended up shooting some cast very nicely in the end.

I tried to buy it from him, but as it was his brother's who'd been killed in a car accident so he wanted to keep it. I should ask again as it's been about 10 years now. I also tried to find one locally and there aren't that many around. Those I did see were priced at about what a Win 94 or Marlin 336 would go for, new. Maybe Southern California just wasn't the spot for them?

Our old rangemaster had one in 222. He said it shot all out of proportion to it's humble asking price and pedigree. I asked him if that was so why did he sell it. He said he thought he could get used to it, but it was just so homely he couldn't stand it any longer :D.

.................Buckshot

barrrel
12-18-2005, 08:19 AM
It is a ugly little gun.

krag35
12-18-2005, 10:17 AM
I've had one since I was 11, my Daughter has it now. Likes 31141's and IMR4895. IF the looks get to bothering you to much, send it this way. out of the dozen of these I have seen, all were shooters.
krag35

versifier
12-18-2005, 02:40 PM
"Ugly" is a relative term. You can read about my old canoe paddle on the Gunloads Home Page and form your own opinion...

barrrel
12-18-2005, 09:11 PM
aw,Icant get rid of something just because its ugly,some of the best times i ve had were with ugly things.

JDL
12-19-2005, 09:06 AM
barrel,
Ugly is as ugly does, huh.
Frank Marshalls' favorite hunter was a Springfield 840, a derivitive of the Savage 340. He used the Lyman 311284 and 34 grains of surplus H-4831 and declaired it to be a winner for hunting deer. He said that by using a flat nose punch, it increased the effect dramaticly. -JDL

Boondocker
12-20-2005, 09:14 PM
I have a 340 in 222 I bought a coworker years ago fo 50.00 with a brand new tasco 3x9 . It had some slight rust on to outside and a shiney bore. Butt ugly but very accurate once you get past the trigger pull. Boon

Bret4207
12-23-2005, 12:12 PM
Wish I knew what happened to all the ones we used to see in 222 and 22 Hornet. In the early 80's you couldn't hardly give one away. Now, they're scarce.

Maineboy
12-23-2005, 12:26 PM
Wish I knew what happened to all the ones we used to see in 222 and 22 Hornet. In the early 80's you couldn't hardly give one away. Now, they're scarce.

Bret, here's one in 222

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=7148134

and one in 30-30

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=7146430

1Shirt
12-24-2005, 10:03 AM
The first centerfire I loaded for was one in 222. Took a deer with that one. I drowned one in 30-30 in the Chena River in Ak. and damn near drowned myself at the same time. Replaced that one for $100.00 in a Pawn Shop that I still have with a 3x Weaver on it. Shoots most anything you put down it better than I can shoot most of the time. Mine likes the 150 Lee, and the 130 grainer jacketed equally well. Will stay in 3" at 100 with either at respectable vol. Shoots spire points that you can only two load in a lever action. It is a handi little gun, and won't trade it off. Have to admit however it will always be at the back of the line in a beauty contest.
1Shirt :coffee:

Newtire
12-24-2005, 10:56 AM
Am on my 3rd one now. There was a slew of these at a local gun shop after I bought mine. This one has the barrel tightened down so that the front sight is slightly twisted from lining up with the rear. I notice that nut on the barrel kinda like a Savage 110 but have never heard of or seen a tool available for loosening it. Anyone know the trick for doing this. Would like to get the sight straight..It's ugly enough as it is like you say. The one's I have had were all very accurate & handy little rifles.

Bass Ackward
12-24-2005, 01:09 PM
Am on my 3rd one now. There was a slew of these at a local gun shop after I bought mine. This one has the barrel tightened down so that the front sight is slightly twisted from lining up with the rear. I notice that nut on the barrel kinda like a Savage 110 but have never heard of or seen a tool available for loosening it. Anyone know the trick for doing this. Would like to get the sight straight..It's ugly enough as it is like you say. The one's I have had were all very accurate & handy little rifles.



Newtire,

Chances are someone would have .... corrected this a long time ago had there not been a reason for it. Before you go and rotate that around be advised that you are going to change your headspace. I suspect that this is the reason for the rotation. You would need a set of go guages to test it and be safe. Just so you know.

moodyholler
12-24-2005, 01:24 PM
I had one in 22 Hornet with a Weaver 6x on it that was a tack driver with hand loads. Had a Bishop stock on it that helped some. I wish I had kept it. Traded it for a 39A Marlin, I think. moodyholler

Scrounger
12-24-2005, 01:25 PM
Am on my 3rd one now. There was a slew of these at a local gun shop after I bought mine. This one has the barrel tightened down so that the front sight is slightly twisted from lining up with the rear. I notice that nut on the barrel kinda like a Savage 110 but have never heard of or seen a tool available for loosening it. Anyone know the trick for doing this. Would like to get the sight straight..It's ugly enough as it is like you say. The one's I have had were all very accurate & handy little rifles.

If it is like the 110, Midway and Brownells sell tools to turn them. I've often thought putting some wood dowels or something in those grooves on the nut and using a strap wrench might work...

Frank46
12-25-2005, 06:17 AM
Igot a savage 340 today pretty tight gun,in 3030 cal., any one ever shoot cast in one?TIA
Barrel, I had one many years ago. Great little rifle and quite accurate. But it had one nagging problem. Had the hardest bolt operation on any rifle I ever owned.
It was almost like ramming a plug in a hole. Pused hard to get the bolt all the way
in then lower bolt handle. Then raise bolt handle and just about yank the bolt back. I tried everything I could think of, polising all parts on the bolt, polishing the
inside of the receiver, I even greased the bolt with enough grease to sink a ship,
then spent about an hour working the bolt. Slight improvement but that was all.
Finally a buddy wanted a cheap truck rifle, told him waht the deal was and he bought it anyway. A buddy found one at a local gun show and it was the complete opposite of the one I had. Bolt operation was very smooth. Go figure.
Frank

David R
01-23-2006, 07:00 PM
I had a guy come to my garage today. He asked about getting his van fixed, then asked me if I knew anyone that could fix his rifle. I asked a few questions, he made some comments. He told me it was a Marlin 340. I said isn't is a savage? He said oh yeah. He told me it doesn't fire. He said it needed a firing pin. I looked at it and the firing pin comes out a good 3/16" with the cocking piece turned to fire. I wonder if its headspacing. Anyway, I traded for some exhaust work on his Pontiac Transport. Barrel looks good, it was even clean. Kinda club looking gun, but a bolt action 30-30 with a detachable magazine. I'll report on how it shoots in a week or so. It comes with a box of factory loads. I have no dies YET, but give me some time.....

David

StarMetal
01-23-2006, 09:17 PM
David

That rifle is dangerously dangerous. You better send it to me right away.

Joe

David R
01-24-2006, 10:45 PM
OK, I had a crappy day at work, so I bailed out early. ( I work for my slef) I went to the range and shot the nice new shiny 340. It came with a box of winchester 170 grain factory stuff. The box had 2 with dings in the primer, but still unfired. I went to a 50 yard range. After shooting all 18 left, 12 went off, the rest have a small ding in the primer and need to be pulled.

I checked the headspace by pulling the magazine and looking at the loaded round. It looked OK. The firing pin sure sticks out enough. Aparently this is NOT a rebounding firing pin.

The "group" from a make shift rest with out my Merrit Miricle optical eye site improver was pretty good. Probably 5 in 1/2", the rest near by. It was snowing and blowing pretty good. It showed me it can be a shooter. I measured the inside of a fired case, it came out at .312. that was good news to me. I slugged the bore and came up with 3.09 X .3005 to .3001. I size all my 30 cal to .310, so this is also good.

I took the brass home, stuck one in the press. I pushed the primer out whth my 30'06 sizer die and sized the neck in a .308 sizer. It sized 2/3 of the neckl. Obviously I have no dies yet, but will get some soon.

On another note, at lunch time I was messing with it. The bolt worked a little hard so I took some 600 wet or dry and polished the bolt and inside of the reciever. It worked worse when done than before I started. The mahcine marks in the inside of the reicever were palin as day. It almost looked like the inside of the reciever was a fine thread. Polishing only seememd to make the machine marks stand out more.......OH well, live and learn.

I think its drilled for a peep site. There are 2 screws on the left side of the rear of the action on top.

Does anybody know what the twist of this dangerously dangerous rifle?

I think I am going to like. My daughter says its lighter than my 1917 enfield.

Trigger is fine for a pre broken in rifle. Smooth and not too heavy.

I think I am liking it so far, but the true test is when I send some 311466, 311407, 311291..............and even the 31141 down range to see how it shoots REAL boolits.

David

Buckshot
01-27-2006, 08:48 AM
...............GPC has the correct sidemount scope mounts for the 340/325 series. Check the muzzle crown. Check bedding, especially that barrel band dealiebob.

Shooters. The Guide, whatever the Gary Olen (?) outfit is called has spare box magazines for those rifles. Not real cheap, but I don't know who else has'em offhand.

I should call my buddy and see if he'd sell me the one he has. Used to be his brothers.

..................Buckshot

David R
02-05-2006, 01:30 PM
Well, I cleaned the thing today. Green, Green and more green on the patch. Used shooters choice copper solv , hoppies, and one of those lead wipe out rags. I will try again and see if it shoots. If not...........

David

Jeffreytooker
02-06-2006, 03:05 AM
I had a ??Springfield Savage?? in 222R in the middle 80's. It shot quite well. They were selling them at a grand opening for a Gamble - Skogmo for $79.00. Mine went with my second X wife. Along with a 410 shotgun and a Ruger standard 22 pistol. It did get me to liking 222R's. The one I have now is in 722 Rem. It was built in about 58. It shoots well too.

Jeffrey